Polls: Political

Abuja, Nigeria. March 5th, 2015– Latest governance poll results released by NOIPolls have revealed that the President’s approval rating for February 2015 stood at 63 percent. This represents an 8-points increase from January 2015 and a 12-points increase from January 2014. On the contrary, 28 percent of Nigerians disapproved of the president’s job performance with majority of Nigerians in this section representing the North-East zone (55 percent), while 9 percent remained neutral as they neither approved nor disapproved of his performance. Furthermore, the President achieved an average (3) rating in terms of his performance in Economy, Health, Education, Transportation and Foreign Policy & Diplomacy. In Agriculture & Food security he recorded a score above average (4), whereas; he performed very poorly in Job creation, Power and Security.

More findings revealed that the larger share (46 percent) of Nigerians surveyed reported that power supply to their household worsened over the past one month and this represents an 11-points decline when compared to February 2015 result. In addition, 22 percent of Nigerians saw no difference at all in power supply, while 32 percent affirmed that they saw an improvement in power supply to their households within the past one month. These are some of the key findings from the Governance Snap Poll conducted in the week of February 23rd2015.

These results represent the second in the 2015 monthly series of governance polls conducted by NOIPolls to gauge the opinions and perceptions of Nigerians regardingthe approval rating of the President, the performance of the President on key elements of his transformation agenda, and thestate of power supply in the country.

Respondents to the poll were asked three specific questions. The first sought to assess the opinion of Nigerians on the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan over the past 1 month. Respondents were asked:Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of President Jonathan in the past 1 month?The survey findings revealed that the President’s job performance in the past one month increased by 8-points as approved by 68 percent(26 percent+37 percent) of adult Nigerians interviewed. On the contrary, 28 percent disapproved of the President’s job performance while, 9 percent remained neutral as they neither approved nor disapprove.

More analysis on the President’s performance by geo-political zones indicated that the South-East zone (90 percent) and South-South zone (82 percent) had the highest percentage of respondents who approved of the President’s job performance. On the other hand, the North-East zone (55 percent) and North-West zone (42 percent) had the largest proportion of respondents who disapproved of the President’s job performance, whereas, the North-Central zone (13 percent) and the South-West zone (13 percent) accounted for the largest proportion of Nigerians who remained neutral.

Trend analysis by geo-political zones revealed a general increase in the President’s approval rating across all zones in February 2015 from January 2015; hence, resulting in the overall increase in his job performance rating. The increase per zone is as follows; North-Central (10-points), North-East (5-points), North-West (10-points), South-East (6-points), South-South (1-point), and South-West (14-points).

Further trend analysis of the President’s approval rating indicates a significant 8-points increase in February from January 2015. This rating represents a 12-points increase when compared to February 2014.

To gauge the performance of the President on pertinent elements of his transformation agenda, respondents were asked: On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is very poor and 5 is excellent, how would you rate the performance of the President Jonathan in the following areas? (1) Job Creation (2) Power (3) Economy (4) Health (5) Education (6) Agriculture & Food Security (7) Transportation (8) Foreign policy & Diplomacy and (9) Security. The outcome shows that the President achieved an average (3) rating in terms of his performance in Economy, Health, Education, Transportation and Foreign Policy & Diplomacy. In Agriculture & Food security he recorded a score above average (4), whereas he performed very poorly in Job creation, Power and Security.

Comparing current results with January 2015 revealed that the President’s performance rating on Economy, Education, Transportation and Foreign Policy & Diplomacy maintained an average ranking of 3. Job Creation, Power and security also maintained a poor rating, while Health and Agriculture & Food Security experienced a 2-points and 1-point increase respectively.

Finally, to find out the state of power supply to Nigerian households over the past month, respondents were asked: How would you describe power supply in your area in the last 1 month?Findings revealed that the larger proportion (46 percent) of Nigerians reported that power supply to their household worsened over the past one month. While 22 percent indicated that there is no difference at all, 32 percent saw an improvement in power supply to their households within the past one month.

Analysis by geo-political zone revealed that the North-East (42 percent) and South-East zones (42 percent) accounted for the larger proportion of Nigerians who experienced an improvement in power supply, whereas, the South-South (53 percent) and South-West zones (53 percent) accounted for the larger proportion of Nigerians who reported a poor state of power supply to their households over the past month.

Monthly trend evaluation revealed an 11-points decrease in power supply in February 2015. This result represents an 8-point decline from February 2014.

In conclusion, the governance poll result revealed that 63 percent of Nigerians approved of the President’s job performance for February 2015 whereas, 28 percent disapproved of the President’s job performance while, 9 percent remained neutral as they neither approved nor disapproved. Also, the President achieved an average (3) rating in terms of his performance in Economy, Health, Education, Transportation and Foreign Policy & Diplomacy. He recorded a score above average (4) in Agriculture & Food security whereas he performed very poorly in Job creation, Power and Security. Finally, majority (46 percent) of Nigerians surveyed reported power supply to their household worsened over the past one month. 32 percent claimed they saw an improvement within the past one month, while 22 percent stated there is no difference at all in power supply to their households.

Survey Methods

The opinion poll was conducted in the week of February23rd2015. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed. With a sample of this size, we can say with 95 percent confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise - within a range of plus or minus 3 percent. NOIPolls Limited, No1 for country specific polling services in West Africa, works in technical partnership with the Gallup Organisation (USA). We conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. More information is available at www.noi-polls.com

Disclaimer

This press release has been produced by NOIPolls Limited to provide information on all issues which form the subject matter of the document. Kindly note that while we are willing to share results from our polls with the general public, we only request that NOIPolls be acknowledged as author whenever and wherever our poll results are used, cited or published.

NOIPolls hereby certifies that all the views expressed in this document accurately reflect its views of respondents surveyed for the poll, and background information is based on information from various sources that it believes are reliable; however, no representation is made that it is accurate or complete. Whilst reasonable care has been taken in preparing this document, no responsibility or liability is accepted for errors or fact or for any views expressed herein by NOIPolls for actions taken as a result of information provided in this report. Any ratings, forecasts, estimates, opinions or views herein constitute a judgment as at the date of this document. If the date of this document is not current, the views and content may not reflect NOIPolls’ current findings and/or thinking.